Police find large weapons cache in NJ motel

January 26, 2010 6:00:56 AM PST

Eyewitness News

BRANCHBURG --

Authorities say they have arrested a Virginia man on multiple weapons charges after he fled from officers responding to a suspicious person report. Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said 43-year-old Lloyd Woodson of Reston, Va., was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a semiautomatic rifle concealed under his jacket when officers encountered him at a Quick Chek store in Branchburg shortly before 4 a.m. Monday.

He fled to a nearby trailer park, where he was arrested.

Forrest said a search of the Branchburg motel room where Woodson was staying turned up additional weapons, ammunition, a night vision scope, police scanner, and a map of a military installation.

FBI and the ATF agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force are assisting in the investigation.

Investigators say they don't know Woodson's intentions, or if he was planning any kind of attack.

They believe he served in the navy, but has been out of service for several years. They are waiting to hear back from navy personnel about his history.

Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest said, "These are weapons that could penetrate cars, metal, bulletproof vests... these are weapons of mass destruction."

The prosecutor's office did not know if Woodson had retained a lawyer.